November 24, 2025: As the UN climate conference began in Belem, Brazil last week, an official UN report, Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T on climate financing explicitly called out Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements as a systemic ba

November 19, 2025: Following food price inflation and Republican electoral defeats in November state and local elections, including in New York City, President Trump on November 14 officially removed 10% “reciprocal“ tariffs from many food imports, including b

November 14, 2025: With the United Nations climate conference (COP30) under way this week in Belém, Brazil, a new study warns that legal protections for foreign investors could undermine efforts to protect the biodiversity of the Amazon region. The policy brief, published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, reveals that investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in international investment treaties pose a major financial risk for Amazonian countries seeking to curb oil and gas extraction.

November 13, 2025: Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work in Canada, was the guest speaker at the AFTINET Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 November 2025. 

Jim gave an informative presentation on what Donald Trump is doing to the world trade regime, why it is dangerous and damaging and how progressives in all parts of the world, including Australia, can fight back.

From 2016 - 2024, Jim also served as founding Director of the Australian Centre for Future Work, a separate organisation. He is the author of Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, which has been published in six languages. He has also been published widely in both academic publications and popular media.

November 10, 2025: The United Nations Conference on Climate Change begins this week in Belem, Brazil, for governments to negotiate the implementation of their practical commitments to reduce carbon emissions in order to reduce damaging global warming.

Last week, the UNFCCC released a report, Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T (about how to mobilise climate finance for developing countries), after its consultation with parties and stakeholders throughout this year.  

The report explicitly calls out Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements as a systemic barrier to financing climate action in developing countries. See this paragraph on p.52:

November 5, 2025: Negotiations are continuing on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) Annex to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Pandemic agreement. The main agreement was adopted in May 2025. However, the annex deals with some of the most contentious issues between Global North and Global South countries.

October 30, 2025: A group of United Nations experts has urged governments to undertake fundamental reforms of international investment treaties, warning that the current system undermines human rights, environmental protection, and efforts to address the climate crisis.

In a joint statement released last week, the Special Rapporteurs on the environment, climate change, and the right to development called on States to “seize this important opportunity” to realign trade and investment frameworks with international human rights law.

October 29, 2025: After threatening tariffs of up to 50% on Southeast Asia and other countries, US President Trump lowered them to 19% for some countries in return for concessions that suit US corporate economic interests.

October 27, 2025: The US Australia critical minerals agreement was announced last week as a win-win agreement for both governments. The stated aim is to provide guaranteed supplies to the US of critical minerals and rare earths needed for the battery, semi-conductor, and defence industries as an alternative to dependence on China, and to provides US investment in value-added processing for Australian minerals.

October 23, 2025:  AFTINET held a successful  webinar on the  ISDS threat to government climate action and the Tribunal decision in the first Clive Palmer claim against the Australian government  for $300 billion. If you missed it, the video of the webinar can be found here. The AFTINET petition, explainer and other campaign materials are here.